The Indigenous Film Festival returns for its fifth year at Forest’s Kineto Theatre. Festivities kick off Friday, April 19 with a film starring students from three local area schools called ‘Coming Together.’
Ruth Illman, Kiwanis Club and festival committee member, is excited to showcase this new element, which was created in part with Leigh George, Christina Clark, and Candace Scott Moore to get local schoolchildren involved in the festival.
“The kids learned how to create a film storyboard, how you’re going to create your scene and how you are going to do them and have takes for each one,” Illman tells the Journal.
Students from Hillside School in Kettle and Stoney Point and those from St. John Fisher and Kinnwood Schools in Forest learned an Ojibwe song written by Scott Moore and a round dance.
They were filmed at their separate schools, eventually coming together for a final performance.
“We had four visits throughout the school year, and now Leigh is going to take that and edit it all down…but it was a really neat process,” says Illman.
‘Coming Together’ will premiere for students on Friday during the day, and then will be shown ahead of each film being screened at the festival.
“I don’t know what we are going to do next year to top it but we will see,” laughs Illman.
Additional films being shown include Leigh George’s ‘The Elements’ on Friday night which includes a Q&A with the filmmaker, ‘Hey Viktor’ on Saturday night, and ‘Cafe Daughter’ on Sunday.
But that’s not all — this marks the second year that workshops will be offered on Saturday afternoon at the theatre to focus on land-based learning.
“This year we have a couple of ladies who are going to do a workshop. One is on land-based salves and another one is on herbal medicines, and you have to register for those,” explains Illman.
“It’s really important to educate our community on the positives, on all of the aspects of Indigenous culture and celebrate what is happening…we are coming together in a positive way to share stories and celebrate culture,” Illman adds.
The Wiiwkwedong Arts Collective of Kettle and Stony Point, North Lambton Community Health Centre and the Kiwanis Club of Forest invite the community to come and enjoy their special weekend of films and activities running April 19 to 21.
Tickets can be purchased ahead of time online by visiting kineto.ca or the day of at the theatre box-office.